The Swiss conductor Baldur Brönniman has just made a list of ten things he thinks should be different at classical concerts. Apparently he wants to make classical music more accessible for a changing world. I found the list disturbing on multiple points. Do we really want to sacrifice the novelty of our music to appeal to a wider audience?
Applauding between movements, as Brönniman suggests, would only take away from the magic of the music. If in some cases it would be tolerable, there are other instances where it would be distracting and break the spirit. The devoted admirers of the music in a concert are going to want to hear everything as clearly as possible with no interruptions.
Worse yet, Brönniman wants to let concert-goers use their phones. They'd be required to put them on vibrate, but could take photos and videos, text, and tweet. Has the world truly lost the beauty of concentrating on music with no distractions? And of course, such usage would be sure to create more noise.
I'm all for innovation, but sacrificing originality to appeal to a wider fan base seems counterproductive.
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